Ranger: Shoot Your Own Ammo! - Guide to Crafting
=The Guide= When I first chose to start leveling my Ranger job, I made it a personal goal to never shoot an arrow or bolt that I myself did not make. I'm level 51 and still have not broken that goal. Read on, and find out how I accomplished that goal and saved millions of gil in the process. Before I begin, let me make one thing PERFECTLY clear. CRAFT YOUR OWN LUMBER! Unless you hang out at the guild shop a few minutes before it opens, you'll rarely be able to buy Arrowwood Lumber. If you're lucky enough to see it at the shop, buy it. Buy it all until it's gone. But that's all you buy there. Never, ever, ever, buy lumber from the AH. It's just not worth the price. Most of the arrows and bolts you'll be crafting will require two types of wood, Arrowwood Lumber and Ash Lumber. With only a few exceptions, Arrowwood Lumber is used to make arrows and Ash Lumber is used to make bolts. You can buy Arrowwood Logs from the guild (dirt cheap), or from Mazuro-Oozuro or Nilerouche in Tavnazian Safehold. You can get the Ash Logs from any of the shops next to the airship docks in the three major cities. You can also get either of the logs from the Norvallen Regional merchant. Unless by some miracle the guild shops have them for cheaper then 80 gil, don't shop there. Tip: Join the woodworking guild. Everyday, try to hand over the required item. You want to get 10,000 points QUICK. Because Lumberjack is going to save you so much time and gil, it's mandatory. That's right....MANDATORY. After you got Lumberjack, keep handing over items until 70,000, which nets you Carpenter's Gloves. At 100,000, you get Carpenter's Apron, and if you're REALLY good, you can get Drawing Desk at 150,000. Ash Lumber Sold By Guild Merchants : Other Ash Log Locations : Level 1-10 At these stages, I just did a huge burst of Woodworking. Since I previously leveled Clothcraft already to around 50, I had alot of fletchings just laying around. So I used them to start my woodworking crafting. Skip right over the Stone arrows and head for the Wooden arrows. They don't require fletchings and the materials are incrediably cheap. I also recommend either buying or crafting a stack of 99 Bone Arrowheads right away. Don't craft the arrows until you're ready to use them, since they can't be quivered. : As for your bolts, stick with Bronze Bolts, since Crossbow Bolts require Smithing to craft. They both do equal damage, so you're not gimping yourself at all. Either buy or craft at least a stack of 99 Bronze Bolt Heads and carry them with you as you level. Since these bolts cannot be quivered, you'll save space in your inventory by just carry the boltheads, ash lumber, and the earth crystals, then by carring 5 or 6 stacks of bolts. As you approach the double digits for your job, you might want to buy one more stack of 99 heads, since you'll be using them as your basic damage while swapping out the enfeebling bolts you'll be using later on. Blind Bolts are quiver able. : Level 11 - 20 At these levels, you'll be partying with others, sometimes for hours at a time. Because of this, it's very important you don't run out of ammo while partying. So make sure you got enough materials on hand to make your ammo on the fly. You pick up Scavenge at level 10, which can help in a pinch, but don't count on it to be able to get you your badly needed lumber. Tip: Use Scavenge as much as you possibly can. Make it a macro and in your other arrow swapping macros, including a /recast "Scavenge" to make sure you don't forget to do it. In the long run, this ability can save you lots of gil. You'll now have access to a whole slew of new bolts and arrows, and most of them can be quivered. Making and quivering them ahead of time can save you valuable room in your inventory and I highly recommend doing so. Buy your carnations in Upper Jeuno for around 60 gil a piece (720 a stack). Don't buy them in the Auction House, cause they run about 2-3k per stack and Ranger's are all about saving gil. I personally buy about 30 stacks and mule them to my other characters to store and sell. It's an easy 2-3k profit and I love taking advantage of suckers. The main arrows you will be firing at these levels include Iron Arrow, Fang Arrow, Beetle Arrow, and Poison Arrow. Because the Fang and Beetle arrows require a pretty high Woodworking to craft, you'll most likely be spending alot of time at these levels crafting. It was at this stage that I really went to work crafting. : Status Bolts are your bread and butter if you wanna raise your Marksmanship skill. Acid Bolts are wonderful in parties cause it adds a Defense Down effect. Sleep Bolts are great if you need en emergency Sleep. : Level 21 - 30 Level up your Woodworking skill which might cost u a little bit of money but it will save u in the long run. Level up Bonecrafting too cause most of the arrowheads u are gonna need can be farmed from monsters to save u some more gil These arrows will get u almost to lvl 37 if u wanna take it farther you are gonna have to ask yourself if Woodworking gonna be one of your main crafts : Bloody Bolts are great for soloing due to HP Drain effects. Venom Bolts bestows Poison on the target. Holy Bolts deals additional Light Damage dependent solely upon the character's Mind. :